Pablo Mac Donough

Polo is possibly one of the toughest sports for any tourbillon watch to have to deal with. Sudden turns, wild swings, the clash of horses and riders: these are forces far greater than the norms found in other sports. Known as the ‘King of Sports’ polo is uniquely elegant and highly physical. A perfect testing laboratory.

With horses, every single animal is different. Getting one to run, stop and turn very quickly is very difficult to do. It’s also highly risky. Everything in polo is about perfect timing. If you put too much pressure on the horses you’re breeding at a young age, they won’t perform well later on. On the field, if you make a pass too soon, your teammate won’t connect with it. You have to anticipate, consider things in advance. And, you have to be in the right place at the right time in order to play your best.
This attitude is what has made Pablo Mac Donough one of the planet’s greatest polo players.

A fifth-generation Irish Argentine born in Buenos Aires, sport ran though his veins. At 14 he won the Potrillos Cup—the world’s most prestigious youth tournament. Ever since an unrivalled tally of success has been weighing down the trophy shelves at La Irenita, arguably the best polo breeding stable anywhere, led by Pablo and his family. He has won the Palermo Open a dozen times with 3 different teams - Ellerstina, La Dolfina and La Natividad, and is also the all-time title record holder of the Tortuga Open. Similar wins notched up at the Hurlingham Open, the Queen’s Cup (UK), the British Open and the Gold Cup Sotogrande (Spain) have certainly not made the shelves any lighter.

Pablo became a member of the Richard Mille family in 2012. This partnership gave rise to the RM 053, the first polo-dedicated watch specifically designed with an armoured case to withstand the impacts of intense polo matches. But their magnificent teamwork didn’t stop there; the RM 53-01, released in 2018, was another “striking” success for the duo. This sports watch had a unique mission: to be utterly “polo-proof”.